Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In complete contrast to the attention-grabbing, money-grubbing false teachers (Mark 12:38-40), Jesus highlights a sterling example of faith: “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much, and there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites [the smallest of coins], which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His disciples, and saith unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: for all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living’” (verses 41-44). We should note the difference between the scribes, “which devour widows’ houses” (verse 40), and the poor widow, who exercised extraordinary self-denial in her giving. We should also note that Jesus does not excoriate the “rich” who gave “much”; their giving was genuine and was certainly useful to the Temple ministry. I have always said that large churches are able to have ministries like feeding programs for which smaller churches simply do not have funds. Larger churches should not be castigated because they have larger budgets and larger opportunities. The widow’s exceptional level of giving, though, is clearly presented as a most positive example to us. Not everyone can match her 100% contribution; in fact, if everyone did, the economy would quickly collapse, jobs would vanish overnight, and famine would soon ensue. However, if our Lord leads us to give more, we can be certain that He will provide what we need to live: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).